Wednesday, February 01, 2012

On Poirot and the pup

This past weekend Howard, Victoria, and I decided to take Tilly off to the sea -- but instead of heading up to our favorite dog-friendly beaches on the north coast of Devon, we drove south this time: to Burgh Island, on the southern coast near Bigbury-on-Sea.

We're big Agatha Christie fans in our house, and Burgh Island, with its gorgeous Art Deco hotel, inspired the setting of the Poirot mystery Evil Under the Sun. It is also where the ITV television version (starring David Suchet as Poirot) was filmed. Christie, who was born in Torquay, Devon, has many connections to this part of England, and she maintained a country house here, Greenway, that is now open to the public.

But Tilly had no interest in literary connections. With wet sand below, blue sky above, and shrieking sea gulls to chase, who needs Belgian detectives? While we were day-dreaming of the 1930s, Tilly was completely content with the present. The day was cold, but that didn't stop her from plunging fearlessly into the waves. She loves the ocean. She's meant to be a springador (half springer spaniel and half labrador retriever), but we think there must be a bit of seal in there too, for she's never happier than when she is covered in sand, salt water, and sea foam....

“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow; but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” - Agatha Christie

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On Poirot and the pup

This past weekend Howard, Victoria, and I decided to take Tilly off to the sea -- but instead of heading up to our favorite dog-friendly beaches on the north coast of Devon, we drove south this time: to Burgh Island, on the southern coast near Bigbury-on-Sea.

We're big Agatha Christie fans in our house, and Burgh Island, with its gorgeous Art Deco hotel, inspired the setting of the Poirot mystery Evil Under the Sun. It is also where the ITV television version (starring David Suchet as Poirot) was filmed. Christie, who was born in Torquay, Devon, has many connections to this part of England, and she maintained a country house here, Greenway, that is now open to the public.

But Tilly had no interest in literary connections. With wet sand below, blue sky above, and shrieking sea gulls to chase, who needs Belgian detectives? While we were day-dreaming of the 1930s, Tilly was completely content with the present. The day was cold, but that didn't stop her from plunging fearlessly into the waves. She loves the ocean. She's meant to be a springador (half springer spaniel and half labrador retriever), but we think there must be a bit of seal in there too, for she's never happier than when she is covered in sand, salt water, and sea foam....

“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow; but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” - Agatha Christie

Myth & Moor

by Terri Windling

I'm a writer, artist, and book editor interested in myth, folklore, fairy tales, and the ways they are used in contemporary arts. I workin the New York publishing industry but I live in alittle village at the edgeof Dartmoor in Devon, England, with my husband, dramatist Howard Gayton, our daughter, Victoria Windling-Gayton, and a dog named Tilly. If you'd like to know more, my publishing bio is here, and my website is here.

“There are some people who live in a dream world,” said Douglas Everett, “and some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.”

I want to be the latter.

About this blog:

Myth & Moor is a daily journal for musings about art, myth, books, village life, and the world-wide community of folks who create and love Mythic Arts.

"As a poet I hold the most archaic values on earth...the fertility of the soil, the magic of animals, the power-vision in solitude, the terrifying initiation and rebirth, the love and ecstasy of the dance, the common work of the tribe. I try to hold both history and the wilderness in mind, that my poems may approach the true measure of things and stand against the unbalance and ignorance of our times." - Gary Snyder

"People talk about medium. What is your medium? My medium as a writer has been dirt, clay, sand - what I could touch, hold, stand on, and stand for - Earth. My medium has been Earth. Earth in correspondence with my mind.” - Terry Tempest Williams

"This earth that we live on is full of stories in the same way that, for a fish, the ocean is full of ocean. Some people say when we are born we’re born into stories. I say we’re also born from stories." - Ben Okri

"Everything is held together with stories. That is all that is holding us together, stories and compassion." - Barry Lopez

Bookshelf

The Wood Wife:A mythic novel set in the Sonoran desert of Arizona. This link goes to the US edition; a UK edition is available here; and the new French edition is here. (For those who might be interested, I did a Q-&-A session on the book over on the Good Reads site.) Winner of the Mythopoeic Award.

Welcome to Bordertown:The latest volume in a classic Urban Fantasy series for YA readers. (An Audie Award nominee, for the audio book edition.) For information on the previous books, visit the Bordertown website.)

All told, I've published over forty books for children, teenagers and adults. More information on my writing, editing, and art can be found on my website.

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Please note that these books are linked to Amazon because it's the only book linking system that Typepad (this blogging service) has,but I urge you to please support your local bookstore if you plan to purchase any of the books mentioned on this blog.

Links to:

The Endicott StudioThe nonprofit organization for Mythic Arts that I ran for 22 years (starting in 1986), co-directed with author & folklorist Midori Snyder. The organization is currently on hiatus (while we catch our breaths and make a living), but a great deal of material from our Journal of Mythic Arts archive remains online.

Interstitial ArtsEllen Kushner, Delia Sherman, & other good folk look at writing and art in the interstices between genres. I was one of the founding board members, and remain an enthusiastic supporter.

Brain PickingsI have no connection whatsoever with this inspiring blog by Maria Popova. I list it here because it's my favorite site on the Web, and deserves to be widely known.